Meredith Nicholson (December 9, 1866 – December 21, 1947) was a best-selling author from

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, United States, a politician, and a diplomat.

Biography

Nicholson was born on December 9, 1866, in

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville () is a city in Montgomery County, Indiana, Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The c ...

, to Edward Willis Nicholson and the former Emily Meredith. Largely self-taught, Nicholson began a newspaper career in 1884 at the ''Indianapolis Sentinel.'' He moved to the ''

Indianapolis News The ''Indianapolis News'' was an evening newspaper published for 130 years, beginning December 7, 1869, and ending on October 1, 1999. The "Great Hoosier Daily," as it was known, at one time held the largest circulation in the state of Indiana. ...

'' the following year, where he remained until 1897. He wrote ''Short Flights'' in 1891, and continued to

publish Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

extensively, both poetry and

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

until 1928. During the first quarter of the 20th century, Nicholson, along with

Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and ''Alice Adams (novel), Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to w ...

, George Ade, and

James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...

helped to create a Golden Age of literature in Indiana. Three of his books from that era were national bestsellers: ''The House of a Thousand Candles'' ( #4 in 1906), ''The Port of Missing Men'' ( #3 in 1907), and ''A Hoosier Chronicle'' ( #5 in 1912). In 1928, Nicholson entered Democratic party politics, and served for two years as a city councillor in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. He rose through the ranks of the Democratic party and was rewarded with appointments as

envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of Diplomatic rank#Special envoy, diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an au ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. Nicholson was married first to Eugenie Clementine Kountze, daughter of Herman Kountze, and then to Dorothy Wolfe Lannon, whom he later divorced. Nicholson died on December 21, 1947, in Indianapolis, aged 81, and is buried in the

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high poi ...

Chronological bibliography

1891: ''Short Flights'', The Bowen-Merrill Co.
1900: ''The Hoosiers'', The Macmillan Company
1903: ''The Main Chance'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1904: ''Zelda Dameron'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1905: ''The House of a Thousand Candles'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1906: ''Poems'' The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1907: ''The Port of Missing Men'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
......... ''Rosalind at Red Gate'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1908: ''The Little Brown Jug at Kildare'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1909: ''The Lords of High Decision'', Doubleday, Page & Company
1910: ''The Siege of the Seven Suitors'', Houghton Mifflin Company
1911: ''Style and the Man'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1912: ''A Hoosier Chronicle'', Houghton Mifflin Company
......... ''The Provincial American and Other Papers'', Houghton Mifflin Company
1913: ''Otherwise Phyllis'', Houghton Mifflin Company
1914: ''The Poet'', Houghton Mifflin Company
1916: ''The Proof of the Pudding'', Houghton Mifflin Company
1917: ''The Madness of May'', Charles Scribner's Sons
......... ''A Reversible Santa Claus'', Houghton Mifflin Company
1918: ''The Valley of Democracy'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1919: ''Lady Larkspur'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1920: ''Blacksheep! Blacksheep!'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1921: ''The Man in the Street'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1922: ''Best Laid Schemes'', Charles Scribner's Sons
......... ''Broken Barriers'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1923: ''Honor Bright: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (with Kenyon Nicholson), Samuel French
......... ''The Hope of Happiness'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1925: ''And They Lived Happily Ever After!'', Charles Scribner's Sons
1928: ''The Cavalier of Tennessee'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company
1929 ''Old Familiar Faces'', The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Filmography

*'' The Port of Missing Men'', directed by Francis Powers (1914, based on the novel ''The Port of Missing Men'') *'' The House of a Thousand Candles'', directed by

Thomas N. Heffron Thomas N. Heffron (June 13, 1872 – May 24, 1951) was a screenwriter, actor, and a director. He was born in Nevada, He worked as an attorney and danced in vaudeville before he began his career in film with Thanhousr in 1911, eventually landing ...

(1915, based on the novel ''The House of a Thousand Candles'') *'' Langdon's Legacy'', directed by Otis Turner (1916) *'' The Lords of High Decision'', directed by Jack Harvey (1916, based on the novel ''The Lords of High Decision'') *', directed by

(1918, based on the short story ''The Hopper'') *'' Haunting Shadows'', directed by Henry King (1919, based on the novel ''The House of a Thousand Candles'') *'' Broken Barriers'', directed by

Reginald Barker Reginald C. Barker (April 2, 1886 – February 23, 1945) was a pioneer film director. Biography Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Barker's family moved to Scotland when he was an infant and then to the United States. Living in California, ...

(1924, based on the novel ''Broken Barriers'') *'' The House of a Thousand Candles'', directed by

Arthur Lubin Arthur Lubin (July 25, 1898 – May 11, 1995) was an American film director and producer who directed several ''Abbott & Costello'' films, ''Phantom of the Opera (1943 film), Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), the ''Francis the Talking Mule'' series a ...

(1935, same title as the novel ''The House of a Thousand Candles'', entirely different cast and story) *''Jack Marshall Can't Do This'', produced by Screen 14 Pictures on YouTube (2017, based on the novel ''The House of a Thousand Candles'')

References

Sources

* * Russo, Dorothy Ritter and Sullivan, Thelma Lois
"Meredith Nicholson" (pp. 69–172)
in ''Bibliographical studies of seven authors of Crawfordsville, Indiana'', Indianapolis : Indiana Historical Society, 1952.

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Meredith 1866 births 1947 deaths 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Politicians from Indianapolis Writers from Indianapolis Ambassadors of the United States Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery Indiana Democrats 19th-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Indiana Writers from Crawfordsville, Indiana Ambassadors to Venezuela